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Ever had that sinking feeling that time and traffic were taking your next appointment fast out of reach? While some marketing bore drones through a Powerpoint presentation, your mind's eye is filled with an image of your children waiting outside a deserted school gate. We've all been there...

But what if your car really knew how long it would take to do the school run in current traffic conditions? And what if it also knew that without being told? What if, entirely unprompted, your car communicated that information to your phone and also, by consulting your calendar, reminded you and worked out how long it would take to stop off and buy your niece a birthday present?

How scary is that? Yet it could become a reality for up to half a million BMW owners this month as the company offers its ConnectedDrive Cloud information application to existing and new owners in Europe. And that, in turn, means there's simply no excuse for ever being late.

ConnectedDrive can share information via Apple devices

"There are between 300,000 and 350,000 cars on the road capable of using the system and half a million are already connected with an active SIM card," says Andy Furse, BMW UK's technology product manager.

While parts of the ConnectedDrive package will be familiar to many other car owners (Wi-Fi hot spot, vehicle condition displays on your mobile, live traffic congestion and real-time journey times along with learning software), BMW claims this is the first time they have been joined together (although Volvo comes close with its connectivity in the new XC90).

37 per cent of younger premium car owners would switch marques if they felt their digital 'experiences' didn't match those of the rivals

"We are in the next phase of digitisation," said Dieter May, Vice President of digital services, quoting a McKinsey report that suggests up to 37 per cent of younger premium car owners would switch marques if they felt their digital 'experiences' didn't match what rivals could offer. May and his colleagues claim this is BMW's big chance to get ahead, to leverage their customer base and communicate directly with customers.

With ConnectedDrive your phone will sync with BMW's iDrive system every time you get in the car

If this chilling vision is enough to put you off ever buying a BMW, then Furse puts a calmer, more positive case as to why you might want to sign up for this wholly free service - even the SIM cards are free for life.

"For rival services," he says, "by the time you get in the car, it will be too late. And you won't need to tell BMW about your normal journeys, it learns day to day and after two or three times, it will become regular. And, as soon as you get into the car, your phone will pair with the system."

That information will also transfer between BMW models using ConnectedDrive, so the next car will take on the responsibility of reminding you about the school run or Pilates class. It will also text ahead, warning colleagues if you are likely to be late. There's even a tie up with Amazon Echo, a voice-activated home-based technology, popular in the States, but which has been slow to catch on in Europe. ConnectedDrive has been fully operational in the US since March and is already on its fourth generation flashed to cars via the internet.

"It's a suite of technologies," says Furse, "and it does take us ahead of the opposition, by learning, by giving you information before you leave and with its seamless integration."

If that sounds like the automotive equivalent of Captain Flint, Long John Silver's parrot ceaselessly squawking “pieces of eight”, as well as being prone to breaking down, or failing to pick up all diary/calender entries and with a huge loss of your privacy to boot, then you're clearly not an early adopter.

Customers for this technology don't mind too much if it breaks down as they feel that then they are at the forefront of technology

"You can always turn it off," says Brenner, who claims that customers for this technology don't mind too much if it breaks down as they feel that then they are at the forefront of technology with their feedback helping to create a better product.

Funny that using customers as test beds is just what we used to accuse car companies of back in the bad old days.

Anyway, sorry, got to dash, apparently I've only got five minutes to pick up my wife...

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